HAMMERING JOBS

A new study by the Tax Foundation compares the corporate taxes of various states (including Wisconsin) with corporate taxes in some of the countries we are competing with for investment and jobs. It makes for interesting reading....

WASHINGTON, Mar 18, 2008 - A new study from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group in Washington, shows that most American states tax job providers at a higher rate than any other country in the developed world.

"This is startling news for America's businesses and workers," said Tax Foundation president Scott Hodge, the study's author. "Tax competition for jobs and investment is fierce, and the U.S. continues to fall further and further behind. Our states should be the world's leaders in many things, but high taxation should not be one of them. The high federal corporate tax rate is literally crushing states' competitive abilities. That means fewer jobs for American workers."

Counting the federal rate alone, the U.S. has the world's highest corporate tax rate, but including average sub-national rates (federal plus state in the U.S.), Japan edges out the U.S. for the highest-tax location (see table).

This new study breaks the tax down state-by-state, adding each state's corporate tax rate to the federal corporate tax rate. The results show that 24 states impose, when combined with the federal rate, a higher business tax rate than in any other nation. In fact:

24 states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than top-ranked Japan.

32 states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than third-ranked Germany.

46 states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than fourth-ranked Canada.

All 50 states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than fifth-ranked France.

"If federal lawmakers are serious about making the U.S. corporate tax system more competiti

ve globally, they will have to partner with state officials to lower the nation's overall corporate tax burden," Hodge added.

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